Published in: The Daily Star
Date: 07 August, 2021

Around 22 lakh people have lost jobs as the country’s economy, trade and investment are going through a very challenging time during the pandemic, said Rizwan Rahman, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce Industries (DCCI).

“The overall economy fell into a crisis due to rapid spread of Covid cases across the world as well as the poverty rate increased to 30 per cent from 9 per cent,” he said.

He was presenting a keynote paper at a webinar on “Bi-annual Economic State & Future Stance of Bangladesh Economy-Private Sector Perspective” organised by DCCI today.

He said the economic recovery is now the only target to be achieved.

Moreover, Bangladesh is going to be graduated from LDC status in 2026, just 5 years in hand to make preparations and the country may lose $ 4-6 billion export earning following graduation from lased developed countries, he said.

To boost internal revenue generation, Rizwan Rahman suggested full automation of tax, vat, customs assessment, return and credit.

About monetary policy, he said relaxed terms and conditions of repayment and collateral will help increase credit demand from the private sector.

The DCCI president recommended for improvement in country competitiveness, cluster development of backward linkage industry, expanding Advance Deposit Ratio (ADR) system and capital market-led long term financing to accelerate private investment.

He said cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) are going through a very tough time during this volatile situation.

For the survival of CMSMEs, he suggested collateral-free cash flow based loans, a comprehensive policy framework, reducing bureaucratic complexities and at least 3 years of the moratorium period.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/health/disease/coronavirus/news/22-lakh-people-lost-jobs-during-covid-19-pandemic-dcci-president-2146991